Hamer Brothers Climbing Blog

Tuesday, 21 April 2015

Finally spring has come! Its been a long wait, but yes it is finally here.

It’s been a cracking last month or so out in the Peak District with blue skies, warm sun and dry rock. What more could you ask for! Its been awesome and I managed to pass a little milestone in my climbing yesterday, which was ticking all the '50 Best' Gritstone routes in the East of the Peak district in the Rockfax guide which was also my first guidebook I ever bought. Its a fantastic list of routes of all grades ranging from Diff all the way up to E8 on all the gritstone cliffs in the eastern peak.

I climbed my first one Croton Oil (HVS) up at Rivelin back in 2005 which was also in fact my first trad lead and then over the years tried to tick off the rest of them not knowing how many I can get done. Finally yesterday we did Goliaths groove at Stanage and then shot over to Cratcliffe to do the two pitch Extreme rock tick Requiem (E3). It was an awesome end to the day topping out the final headwall in glorious sunshine over looking the wonderful Peak district feeling really proud to have climbed them all. I've found that having a list such as this is really important and keeps you focussed on your climbing ambitions. So thanks Rockfax!

Other than that, I've been heading west side with a couple of days up at Wimberry and Ravenstones with local boy Mike Hutton showing me around. After a fair amount of cleaning managed some classic lines such as Over the Moors (E5) and True Grit (E3) at Ravenstones, then over at Wimberry:Double take (E6), Wimberry Overhang (E6) and the incredible line of Appointment with Fear (E7). Looking forward to more visits up here!

Also took part in a Boreal photoshoot up in Yorkshire the other day with Jordan, Naiomi and Andi Turner. Showing some of the great climbing shoes that Boreal have got out this year.

Last week I was down in North Wales doing my Mountain Leader (ML) training up in the hills of Snowdonia. Was awesome to be back in such a wild place leaning some news skills for taking people out in the mountains.

Then lastly wrote a Destination article for UKClimbing about the stunning climbing in Waterval Boven that we experienced last summer. Go check it out and get yourself out there for one amazing adventure. http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=7240

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Its been an interesting last month, climbing classic gritsone arete's, old school offwidths, tehnical sandstone walls and mixed scottish routes.

The last 10 days
I've spent up north with my first visit to the quiet county of
Northumberland. This is a place I've always been keen to visit and
finally got round to going. Its a beautiful area of rolling hills,
forests, very few people and stunning sandstone cliffs.

We checked
out 3 of the main cliffs in the area Bowden Doors, Back Bowden and
Kyloe in the woods each one with its own unique style.

Bowden doors is the
archetypal sandstone crag in the area with great routes and
bouldering of all grades. Here we did a bit of the bouldering and
some of the classic trad routes up the amazing wave featured wall
including The Wave (E5 6a) and The Mantra (E3 6a).

Back Bowden is a hidden
away cliffs in a quiet valley with some quality lines on great
sandstone. Managed the classic line of The Tube (E4 5c), the steep
Lost Cause (E4 6b) and the bold On the Rocks (E7 6c). The latter
taking a spicy fall on!

And finally Kyloe,
which is a bouldering venue tucked away in a huge forest. Here we
managed some great problems.

After three days in the
County I made my way up further north and into Scotland with an
organised week with PYB of winter climbing in Glencoe and the
Cairngorms. Winter climbing is something I’ve been extremely keen
to get into this last year or so and get a load of experience in, so
there was no better place to start. I had not been to Scotland in
nearly 10 years and it was great to be back to such a beautiful and
wild place.

As I arrived I realised
there had been a large dump of snow and so knew it was going to be a
good week of proper Scottish winter climbing.

The instructor and
friend from North Wales days Dave Evans was absolutely brilliant, knowing everything there is to know about winter climbing and the
Scottish mountains.

During the week we climbed 3 classic mixed
routes: Scabbard Chimney V, 6 (Glencoe), Pot of Gold V, 6 and The
Genie V, 6 (both Cairngorms) all in full winter conditions and on the
last day due to poor weather a first experience in Drytooling on the
slate quarries in Dunkeld leading some climbs up to M5. It was a week
of much watching and learning from the master and am truly inspired
to get a lot more done.

Monday, 16 February 2015

Well its been a cold few weeks in the Peak district with a fair amount of snow. Unlike last year where we didnt really get any, this winter has produced quite a bit.
More the conditions for skiing or winter climbing but we have managed to get a few things done, which has been nice if a little chilly!

First up was a day hit up to Yorkshire to the north facing Earl crag. Top of the list was the stunning line of Desert Island Arete (E6 6c).
This involves a tricky boulder to start at around V5, then you got some big breaks and good gear and a final crux off some small crimps to big horn. Its absolute belter of route and just managed to keep the fingers warm enough to both send.
The other route was Early Riser (E5 6a) up a beautiful ramp feature. This involved some unusual smeary climbing with the crux off a one finger mono to the top. Not a place to dither around.
Also had a quick play on Mind Bomb, one to return too next time.

Desert Island Arete

Early Riser

Here's a quick video of the day!

Last weekend I was over at the Roaches and managed to do The Thin Air (E5 6a) up the Piece of Mind slab on the right hand side. Quite a sketchy slab climb involving a high rockover move and an exciting top out. A true classic of the roaches.

Piece of Mind slab

Beautiful winters day over looking Hen cloud

No one else about!

And finally, managed to get round to doing The Crypt Trip (E6 6b) up at High Neb at Stanage. A classic 80's route involving some pretty tough, very reachy moves between breaks. Awesome stuff!